Getting to Know You
by koko817
Summary: Paige gets sick and her sisters help her out. In doing so they discover a huge secret. Unfinished for now.
1. What's up with Paige?

Paige eventually made her way to the Matthews when she was nine. After they died she was put back into the foster care system until she turned eighteen.

Set before Paige moves into the Manor

Part One

It was the beginning of yet another bright spring day in San Francisco. Piper and Phoebe were in the kitchen eating breakfast and making small talk when the conversation turned to Paige.

"Did you see Paige after the demon vanquish last night?" asked Piper. "She didn't look so good."

Phoebe agreed. "You're right. She looked like she was ill. Do you think we should go and check on her?"

"Yeah but should it be at work or should we try and get her before or after?"

"I'm thinking now. We can have Leo orb us over there and make sure she is okay."

"Sounds like a plan. Want the honors?"

"Certainly. LEO!! LEO, YOUR WIFE WISHES TO SEE YOU!!"

Leo orbs in. "Do you really have to say that?" he asks. "I get enough grief from the other whitelighters as it is. So what's up?"

"Paige is what's up," replied Piper. "Phoebe and I noticed that she didn't look so good last night so could you orb us over to her apartment to make sure she is okay."

"Inside or outside?" asked Leo.

"Oh, outside her door would work just fine," said Phoebe. "We wouldn't want to interrupt anything she might have going on. I know I wouldn't like it if in New York you guys had just randomly orbed in to my apartment in the morning. Plus, Paige has been an only child until she found us. She probably isn't used to having people check on her well-being especially her sisters."

"Okay," said Leo. "Hold on."

Piper, Phoebe and Leo orbed to right outside Paige's apartment door where Phoebe cautiously but firmly knocked on the door.

Part Two

After no response came from inside the apartment after the first knock, Piper told herself to calm down. 'Maybe she is just at work' she thought to herself. "Did anyone notice if her car was still here?" she asked.

"I did." Said Leo. "And yes it was. Doesn't look like it has moved since last night."

"Okay, then let's try knocking just a little louder now," Piper said as she proceeded to begin the hand motion to blow up the door.

"Whoa, slow down sweetie," said Phoebe. "Why don't I try knocking a little louder this time before we resort to applying any magical forces on the door?"

"Fine, but if this doesn't work we are either orbing in or I am going to blast down that door." Said Piper somewhat grumpily.

Phoebe just started knocking on Paige's door again while Leo tried to not look as hopeful that this would work. Then the call from the elders came. "Uhh … guys. I got to go and take this. The elders you know. Call me if you need anything." Leo said as he orbed out.

'Well there goes the first option,' thought Piper. "Okay Phoebe. It doesn't look like she is alive in there so as our first option is gone, I think it is time I …" She was interrupted by a faint "Yeah … Alright already I'm coming," that was coming from the other side of the door.

Paige opened the door a minute later in her robe and sleepwear. "Hi, guys," she said with a yawn. "Do we need to vanquish another demon right now? 'Cause I'm pretty tired and if this could wait like two hours so I could grab a nap then that would be a real good thing."

"Actually Paige, we came to check in on you and make sure you were okay." Said Phoebe.

"Yeah," Piper chimed in. "We noticed that you looked pretty tired last night and wanted to make sure everything was okay."

Paige replied, "I'm doing fine guys. Whatever would have you …" She broke off in a fit of coughing that seemed to take everything out of her as she sagged against the doorframe and used it as support for herself.

"Whoa," said Phoebe. "Yeah it sure looks like you're fine" she added as she added her support to that of the doorframe. "Piper, she is really warm."

"That does it," Piper exclaimed. "You are coming home with us. That way I know you are being looked after properly and that you are being cared for. No ifs ands or buts. LEO! GET YOUR TUSH DOWN! HERE NOW!"

"Wait a minute," protested Paige weakly as Leo orbed in. "I really don't think that …"

"Shhh, don't fight us on this Paige. We want to help you." Said Phoebe. "You can't tell me that you want to stay here all by yourself."

"Okay then. Let me go get changed and..."

Piper intervened. "Nope. No way. Our whitelighter taxi is here and there is no waiting. Besides what you have on will work just fine for a relaxing stay at home sick day. Let's go."


	2. Resting

Part 3

After Leo had orbed everyone to the manor, Piper and Phoebe got Paige settled into Piper's bed.

"Okay honey. You just get some rest and call if you need anything. We'll be right downstairs." Soothed Piper as she brushed back some hair off of Paige's face.

"Just sleep Paige. We'll be up later to check on you." Said Phoebe. "Sleep tight. " She said as she and Piper left the room with Paige about a minute away from sleep.

After they had gone downstairs, Phoebe asked, "Think she'll be okay?"

"Positive," was Piper's response. "Besides we have everything here to make her feel tons better. Don't worry, we got it under control. So, any idea what kind of soup she likes?"

"I think I remember her saying that her soup substitute were those Cup of Noodle things."

"She doesn't like soup?" Piper asked in horror.

"Yeah. Something about it being shoved down her throat when she was sick as a kid."

"Obviously not good Piper/Grams soup. Think we could try some of my chicken noodle with extra noodles? It ought to work as a decent substitute for her 'soup substitute'"

"Probably a safe bet. Are you going to start making it now?"

"I need to if it is going to be ready for lunch. Why don't you go upstairs and rest with Paige?"

"All over it. Do you need me to do anything first?"

"Nothing off the top of my head. If Paige wakes up before I bring up the soup could you take her temperature for me?"

"Sure. No problem. I call if I need help with anything. See you when the soup is done." Said Phoebe as she headed up the stairs to join Paige.

When Phoebe entered Piper's room she noticed Paige sleeping restlessly. Trying to get her to calm down, Phoebe snuggled next to Paige and began cooing in her ear, "Shhh, Paige. It's okay. Phoebe's here and you are fine. Shhh, sweetie. Just relax and rest." Phoebe continued in this vein until Paige finally calmed down. 'I wonder what it is that could have her so upset' Phoebe thought to herself.

Meanwhile in Paige's dream …

"You little bitch," screamed a man at a five year old Paige. "I asked you to have dinner ready for me along with my clothes when I got home from work tonight."

"Bu…but I…I do have your dinner ready. Sandwiches and milk are great for dinner. And your clothes are almost done, Mr. Gerdin. They are finishing drying and by the time your dinner is done they will be folded and ready for you to wear." Replied a cowering Paige who was extremely dirty and thin. She appeared to have bruises over most of her body along with cuts here and there.

"I didn't want sandwiches" yelled Mr. Gerdin. "I wanted a roast dinner tonight. Well you know what happens to girls who do not get their chores done. Go to your room. You will have no dinner tonight nor breakfast tomorrow. I will be there later to finish your punishment."

Paige quickly scurried out of the room and outside to her 'room' which was a falling down doghouse in the unkempt backyard. She was not looking forward to later that night.

End of dream

At lunchtime, Piper walked up the stairs carrying a tray that had her infamous chicken noodle soup on it along with a mug of hot tea, a water bottle, and two bottles containing two potions she had made with some of Grams' recipes. One was a powerful cough syrup/fever reducer and the other was a lotion Grams had often made for them growing up which helped to ease aches and pains. Quietly knocking on the door, she opened it to see her two younger sisters snuggled together on the bed. "Pheebs?" she asked quietly trying to not wake up Paige yet.

Phoebe sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Is it lunchtime already, Piper?"

"Yes it is sleepyhead. It's past one. So anything to report?"

"Well when I first came in she was sleeping pretty restlessly like she had a bad dream but after a few minutes she calmed down and I haven't noticed anything since then. She wasn't coughing while she was sleeping, but I do think that her fever is going up."

"I wonder what the dream was about. We can worry about that later. Right now let's wake her up so she can eat and get some fluids and medicine in her."

"Okay." Said Phoebe. Turning to Paige she began to lightly shake Paige's shoulder while Piper set up everything on a bedside table. "Paige, honey, it's time for lunch. You need to wake up for some medicine too."

"Yeah sweetie," added Piper. "Plus I made my famous chicken noodle soup which is what stopped the spread of the plague it's so strong."

"Auggg…" said Paige as she slowly opened her eyes to get them adjusted to the light in the room. "I think I'm sore just from sleeping."

"Well it's possible," said Phoebe with one of her big smiles. "You were tossing and turning for awhile there. Remember what the dream was about?"

"Naw," said Paige quickly trying to think up a way to change the subject. "So what's for lunch anyways?"

Piper and Phoebe shared a look wondering what their younger sister was hiding. They silently agreed to leave it alone until Paige felt better. "Let's see," Piper answered. "We have chicken noodle soup with extra noodles, some saltines, and water and tea to drink. Sound good?"

"Sounds great," said Paige relieved that her sisters hadn't brought up her abrupt subject change. "So where's the spoon?"


	3. Eating and a Deal

Part Four

"I have the spoon and the bowl. You get to sit up against Phoebe and wear a bib." Said Piper.

"What?!? There is no way in hell you are going to spoon feed me. I am temporarily sick, not terminal. I can feed myself." Responded Paige a bit harshly.

"Uh-huh," said Piper in a wise, calm, and somewhat sarcastic voice. "So why don't you try sitting up by yourself? If you can't do that, do you honestly think you can feed yourself without over 50 of the bowl landing in your lap?"

Phoebe then chimed in with her words of wisdom. "Come on Paige. Admit it. You don't feel good. Let us take care of you now so you can get better faster. I know that you're not used to the whole sister gig yet, but this is part of it. We take care of each other."

"Fine" said Paige with a pout once she found that she could not raise herself to a sitting position. "But I don't have to like it."

"Don't worry. I know from experience that you'll love it." Phoebe said as she and Piper helped Paige sit up against her.

"Man, the last time I was spoon fed was … I actually can't remember the last time this phenomenon happened to me." Said Paige in between spoonfuls of soup. To be honest, Paige actually was enjoying the feeling she had right then of being loved and cared for.

Piper was very handy with the soup spoon and managed to feed Paige about half of the bowl along with some saltines before Paige protested that she was full, in almost the same amount of time it would have taken Paige to feed herself in her current condition. She also did it with very few spills. Phoebe thought it was extremely cute to watch her baby sister being fed by her older sister with the older one wiping the youngest's chin with the bib every so often to clean off any stray drops of soup. It reminded her a lot of when she was sick and Prue used to do the same thing with her.

"Okay Paige," said Piper. "Would you like some tea or water to drink?"

"Some water would be great, please" was Paige's response. Phoebe helped Paige drink a few sips of water from the glass. "You know, you're lucky this isn't a sippy cup." Medicine was the next thing Piper wanted Paige to swallow. "Okay sweetie. Time for the meds." She pulled out about three shot glasses worth of a translucent bluish-purple colored drink that was about half the thickness of pancake syrup.

"Bottoms up," Paige said right before she downed the glass's contents. "Ohh … I hope that wasn't some kind of poison because that tasted worse than some hangover cures I've concocted when I was younger."

"Nope," said Phoebe. "It's nothing but Grams' cure all potion. You're lucky. Imagine drinking that every time you were sick growing up."

"Yeah but it always made you feel better Pheebs and you know it." Piper said.

"Well yeah. That which doesn't kill you can only make you stronger."

Paige was relaxing in her sisters' camaraderie when she suddenly started coughing much like she had that morning in her apartment. This instantly stopped the teasing while Phoebe and Piper tried to help Paige stop coughing. With Phoebe rubbing her back and Piper helping her take small sips of water, Paige finally got her breathing under control.

"Uh, Piper. I think her temperature is rising." Said Phoebe once they finally got Paige calmed down feeling the warmth coming from her sister.

"Okay, I'll be right back with the thermometer." Piper said as she got up off the bed and headed towards the bathroom to return a minute later with the required item in hand. "Paige, I'm just going to put this in your ear for a sec," Piper said as she pushed back some hair that had fallen in Paige's face before inserting the thermometer into Paige's ear until it beeped. "Well Paige, you are the owner of a 102.8 degree fever," she said once she took a look at the readout. "I'll be right back after making a doctor's appointment for you for tomorrow."

"Wait," Paige said. "Could we wait at least another day or so before going to a doctor? I bet this is only a fever spike and it will go down really soon."

"Well," Piper thought for a moment. "Okay. But I do have ground rules that will be followed otherwise we are going straight to the ER, the first one being you listening to me and Phoebe regarding anything concerning your health until you are all better. Secondly, if it even looks like this is getting out of our control, you will go straight to the quickest doctor's appointment I can make or if need be the nearest ER. Agreed?"


	4. Cold Wakeup

Quick disclaimer because I realized after I had posted that I didn't have one.

If you think I own anything that you recognize in this story, let me call for the men in white coats. They'll help you out. Thanks for reading and all the reviews.

Part Five

Paige thought it over for a moment. She would do almost anything to stay away from a doctor. "Agreed."

"Then first things first. I'll go run a cool bath so we can start bringing that temperature down. Then we'll cover you in some of Grams' lotion after which you will rest. Well I'm off." And with that Piper left the room to complete her self assigned chore.

"Okay Paige. Let's go so you can take your bath." Said Phoebe once Piper had called out that the tub was ready. "I gotcha."

"You know Pheebs, I can walk without assistance."

"Yeah, well I'm not taking any chances."

"Between here and the bathroom? How much trouble can I get into?" asked Paige as she somewhat unsteadily got to her feet. "Whoa. Head rush. Way too much lying around."

"Now you know why I'm not taking any chances. Besides, you fall and Piper will have you in a doctor's office faster than you can say 'I'm okay.'"

"I heard that," yelled Piper from the bathroom. "Ignore her, Paige. She's exaggerating. It's more like faster than you can say 'Can you help me up?'"

"Riiiight," muttered Paige to herself as she and Phoebe made their way down the hallway to the bathroom. Once they had reached the door, Piper took charge. "Pheebs, can you help her sit on the side of the tub? Then we can help her out of her clothes."

Paige bristled at the thought that she couldn't undress herself. "Guys, I can undress myself. Last time I checked, I wasn't three years old."

"Uh-huh. And last time I checked you had two sisters who are willing to help you. You also agreed to a deal that said you would listen to us. Now are you going back on the deal, Paige?"

"No, I … I just …" she trailed off.

"Just what, Paige?" asked Phoebe softly.

"I guess I'm used to doing everything by myself. I mean I've looked after myself for the past twenty-three years with no issues."

"Okay," said Piper whose heart was breaking at the thought of everything Paige had gone through by herself. "I think, no I know that you are very independent Paige. We all are, but you need to learn to trust us to help you." She said sharing a glance with Phoebe before looking back at Paige. "We aren't trying to make you impotent, we're trying to help you. I know it's scary putting yourself in someone else's hands but you need to trust us. We aren't going to hurt you."

Paige thought about Piper's words. Was she ready to try trusting someone again after what had happened the last time she had trusted? Could she trust her family, her sisters? "Okay," she finally whispered after a period of silence deciding to go with her gut instincts. "You can do as you wish with me."

"Are you sure Paige?" Phoebe questioned. "We don't want to push you farther than you are willing to go."

"Yeah, I'm sure. What do you want me to do?" Paige replied in a stronger voice.

"Okay Paige," Piper said. "I … we will not break the trust you have just given us in taking care of you. If you would sit on the toilet, we'll help you take your shirt off."

Paige did as she was instructed and Phoebe helped her take her shirt off.

"Okay, now the hard part. I would like you to stand up and use Phoebe for support to step out of your pants and underwear once I bring them down to your ankles. Ready?"

Paige just nodded. She felt like she was going to fall asleep at any second. Leaning heavily on Phoebe to stand, she managed to complete the maneuver without any problems.

"Now Paige. Time to get into the bathtub. Can you step in or do want me and Pheebs to put you in?"

At this point, Paige wasn't even sure if she could lift her foot off the floor an inch much less the two feet it would take to get into the tub. Her entire body felt numb and unresponsive. "Could you help me in please?" she asked quietly.

"Sure. No problem." Piper went to Paige's left side and Phoebe went to Paige's right side. "Ok, on the count of three. One, two, three." On three, Piper lifted Paige's legs while Phoebe lifted her body. They then maneuvered her into the tub, setting her down gently. As soon as Paige was safely in the tub, Piper grabbed a plastic cup and started to pour the cool water over her head. "Okay, Paige. You need to stay in here for ten minutes. Then we'll take your temp again and see if you need to stay in longer. Sound good?"

"It's cold. But I don't think I get much choice in the matter." Paige said with a quick laugh as she had woken up from her semi slumber almost as soon as she was in the water. Piper was worried though when she saw that Paige wasn't shivering. "This water is freezing."

"I think that is a duh statement, honey. It's supposed to be cold otherwise we won't get your fever down."

"Yeah. You're not the one in the Arctic Ocean. All I need is some salt."

"Settle down. You only have like five minutes more. Honestly, I think you whine more than Pheebs."

"What?" said Phoebe pretending to be shocked by Piper's statement. "Me, whine, never."

"Sure," Paige said, knowing what a drama queen Phoebe could be at times.

"Hey, don't you get started on me too," Phoebe whined. Both Piper and Paige started laughing.

"Well, fine. Be like that. I'm going to leave before I provide any more entertainment for you two. Piper, do you want me to get some warm clothes for Paige?"

"Yeah. Some sweats for her would be great. Could you grab the thermometer for me before you go do that, please? I think I left it on the bed."

"Be right back." Phoebe left the room and returned about a minute later with the thermometer. She then left again to get the sweats for Paige. When Piper received the thermometer, she turned back around to look at Paige who was now shivering madly.

"Okay honey. I'm just going to take your temperature again. Then we can see if Grams' medicine and the bath have helped your fever any." With that said, Piper inserted the thermometer into Paige's ear until it beeped. She removed it and looked at the readout.

"So can I get out of here?" Paige asked with her teeth chattering when Piper didn't say anything for what felt like a minute.

"Slow down, Paige. Have a little patience. I was just thinking."

"And the verdict is …" prodded Paige who really wanted to get out of the tub ASAP.

"Yeah you can come out. Your fever is down to 102 which is good. Grams' medicine is as good as I remember it. Before you start moving, let me get Phoebe in here so she can help us." Piper yelled out "Phoebe," which had the effect of the desired sister running into the bathroom, sweats in hand.

"You rang," Phoebe said teasingly.

"Yeah. I did even though it was more of a yell. Can you help me take Paige out of the bathtub? Then we can get her dried off and into those sweats."

"Sure. Paige can you stand up by yourself or do you want some assistance?"

"I can stand up though I might need some help to remain standing."

"Okay use me for support then," Piper ordered when she saw Paige start to stand up which she was able to do. As soon as she was standing however, she had to use the offered support. "Okay now can you step out of the tub?"

"Yeah, one second. Let's see if the room will stop spinning for a moment."


	5. Sisterly concerns

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize. But on a much happier note,I will have season one on DVD by the end of the week.

Part Six

"The room's not spinning, Paige." Piper said in a calm voice even though she was extremely concerned.

"Well, you can tell it that Piper, " retorted Paige.

"Relax, both of you." Phoebe decided to intervene. The last thing Paige needed was to get worked up. "Okay. Paige, are you feeling a bit more steady now?"

"Yeah. I can get out of the tub now. Not quite sure about making it out of the bathroom though."

"Don't worry about. Let's get you sitting on the toilet."

With some help from Phoebe and Piper, Paige managed to perch herself on the toilet. As soon as she was sitting, Phoebe helped her pull on a plain white t-shirt. Then both Piper and Phoebe helped her put on some underwear, a pair of light gray sweatpants and some white cotton socks. "Now let's get your taxi. Leo!" Piper called. He walked into the room about a minute later.

"You called?" He asked with a smile.

"Yeah. Can you carry Paige back to our room? I don't want to risk her falling down."

"No problem." Replied Leo as he swung Paige in to his arms and cradled her as if she didn't weigh a thing. He then walked over to the room he and Piper shared and gently placed Paige on the bed once Piper had pulled back the covers. Once Paige was comfortable, Piper tucked the covers in all around her.

"Sorry for kicking you out of your bed, Leo" said Paige weakly.

"It's okay. I'm going to be gone the rest of the week anyway. So you get better for when I next see you."

"Will do." With Paige's promise, Leo left the room with Piper right behind him to say goodbye. This left Phoebe alone in the room with Paige.

"You feeling tired, Paige?"

"Sort of. But right now I'm too sore to even think about going to sleep."

"Well let's see if I can help you with that. Let me take your shirt off and then roll over on to your stomach."

"Why?" asked Paige hesitantly. "What do you want with my back?"

"I'm going to help you feel less sore and hopefully get you to sleep quicker with a back rub." Seeing Paige look uncomfortable with the idea, she continued, "It's for your own good, I promise and it will feel really good."

Paige's thoughts were running rampant. 'I can't let her touch my back. At least not without having a good reason for it looking the way it does and why I react the way I do when she touches it. What can I say to explain it away? Or maybe I should just refuse whatever she has planned. I mean she can't force me although Piper might. Might they get suspicious though if I refuse? I can't let them find out about my past. They don't need to know. It will only cause more pain if they know. That's final.' All this took only a few seconds to run through Paige's head before she came to a decision.

"Pheebs, that's okay. I'm feeling really tired right now so I'm sure I'll be asleep in no time. Can we save it for later?" Paige said with an exaggerated yawn to try and convince Phoebe. Phoebe looked at Paige a bit suspiciously but soon relented. "Well then, do you want me to stay in here with you while you sleep?"

"Naw," said Paige not wanting her sister to witness another of her nightmares. Having them see one was bad enough. Phoebe looked like she was going to protest Paige's response but seemed to think better of pushing her. 'I can check up on her once she is sleeping,' Phoebe thought.

"Okay Paige. Me and Piper will be downstairs. Get some sleep. We'll be up later with some stuff for you to eat and drink. Night, sweetie."

"Night." Replied Paige as Phoebe left the room turning out the lights and closing the door behind her. Paige was not really kidding about how exhausted she felt. The bath and her other exertions had really taken all of her energy. She soon fell asleep. Unfortunately it was troubled by bad dreams and even worse memories.

Downstairs, Phoebe met up with Piper who was in the kitchen, sitting at the table with an intense look on her face.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"You wouldn't think they were worth the price once you had them." Smiled Piper, happy to see her sister.

"You sorry about Leo having to leave?"

"Yeah, but it should give us some good sister bonding time. Besides, we need to get Paige better."

Phoebe looked at her sister curiously. She seemed to be pushing away the pain of Leo leaving to only worry about Paige. Deciding to leave it alone for the moment, she asked, "Hey, speaking of Paige, have you noticed anything unusual about the things she has been doing lately?"

"Define unusual for me, sweetie."

"Well, when I woke her up earlier, it seemed like she was having a bad dream but when I asked her about it she sidestepped the question. And right now when I offered to rub her back because she said she was sore, she refused. And then when I offered to stay in the room with her while she slept, she declined that too."

"And this is unusual because?"

"It just all seems too weird. Bad dream, yet doesn't want a sister to be near to stop another one from happening and she didn't answer my question about it. And why would she refuse physical comfort? She was hurting, I could tell from her eyes."

"Phoebe, Paige just needs to get used to having sisters. She probably isn't used to sharing every little thing about her life. Besides, we're like complete strangers to her. Why would she tell us something personal, like a bad dream? And she probably didn't know that you are a great masseuse so she refused the back rub. You are blowing things way out of proportion. But," Piper continued seeing the look in Phoebe's eyes, "if you really want to make sure, let's go up there right now and just watch her sleep. It will prove to you that she is fine and allow you to also get some rest before dinner."

"Wait a minute. Why do I have to rest again?" protested Phoebe on her way up the stairs with Piper. "Isn't that what I did earlier?"

"Yeah, but you two look so cute together." Teased Piper. "Besides one of us should be with her if she has another bad dream, and seeing as I have to cook so there is something edible in the house, you get resting with Paige duty."

"Okay, but can you come up and tuck me in?" asked Phoebe in her baby voice with puppy dog eyes. Piper couldn't help but laugh at the sight. "Sure sweetie and I can make sure Paige is okay too before I start dinner."

When they went into Piper's room, they found Paige curled into a ball on the bed. She was breathing deeply and evenly and to all eyes looked like she was sleeping comfortably.

"Okay, Pheebs. Get into bed." Ordered Piper happy to see the youngest sleeping peacefully. Piper tucked Phoebe into bed and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Sleep well, baby girl."

Phoebe's eyes were already half closed as she snuggled closer to Paige. "See ya for dinner, Pipe." Piper stayed in the room for a few minutes just watching her sisters sleep. Moving to Paige's side, she laid a hand on her forehead to make sure it hadn't risen. To her satisfaction, Paige seemed just as cool as earlier, maybe even a little less hot.

Piper gave a kiss to Paige's forehead before leaving the room to go to the kitchen.


	6. The Secret is Out

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize.

Part Seven

Piper had everything ready for dinner by five thirty. She decided to go upstairs and check on her two sisters and serve dinner at six. When she entered the room, she saw Paige twisting and turning as if she was trying to escape from something. "Phoebe," she hissed, not wanting one sister to hurt the other, "Get up. Paige is having another nightmare."

Phoebe almost immediately sat up and looked over at her baby sister. When she saw the state Paige was in, she started to try and calm her down knowing that waking Paige up could be a bad thing. "Shh, shh, shh. Paige it's okay. You're fine. Relax, you are going to hurt yourself." She leaned over to rub Paige's back, but as soon as she touched it, she was thrown into a premonition.

In Paige's dream/Phoebe's premonition

A seven-year-old Paige was violently thrown across the room. "Stand up," her foster father ordered in his drunken rage. Paige obeyed, abet slowly as her bruised body struggled with to complete her mind's commands. She stared at the floor in front of her feet trying to avoid making eye contact with her very angry parental figure.

"All I asked you to do was vacuum and mop the floors. Is that such a difficult task? Yet when I get home, I find it not done."

Paige tried to explain herself, "I just wanted to check out this new TV show everyone at school was talking about. It's called Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and it was supposed to be really cool and it …" Paige was quickly interrupted by her now furious guardian.

"You were **watching** TV instead of doing your chores. That's it. Take your shirt off and turn around with your hands on the wall." Once Paige was in position, he began striking her over and over again with his belt on her unprotected back. He was in such a blinding rage he didn't even notice when she had passed out from the pain, still leaning against the wall.

In her sleep, Paige was reliving every blow on her back. She whimpered and moaned, twitching with every hit, with tears falling down her face. The dream ended when she lost consciousness. She laid still but continued to sleep soundly, thankfully dreamless.

As soon as Phoebe was pulled into the premonition, Piper moved to her side, ready to be there when she had finished seeing whatever she was seeing. Phoebe broke away from Paige's dream with a gasp and almost immediately began crying. Piper quickly put her arms around Phoebe and started rocking and cooing to her, trying to get her to calm down so she could tell Piper what she had seen.

"Shh, baby. It's okay. Whatever it is we can stop it. It's alright." As Piper's words hit Phoebe she stiffened. "No," she said through her tears. "We can't stop it. It's never going to be okay." She began crying even more with Piper still rocking her, trying to soothe her. Eventually she cried herself to sleep.

Piper wondered what Phoebe had meant by her words 'We can't stop it.' She decided to stay in the room until either Phoebe or Paige woke up and she could question them.

Paige was the first person to wake up, and she was surprised to see Phoebe asleep next to her with tearstains still on her face, and Piper staring intently at her like a cat looking at a mouse.

"Piper, what happened? Why was Phoebe crying? And" she continued, kind of afraid, "Why are looking at me like that?"

"I'm not quite sure what happened. In short, you had a nightmare, Phoebe tried to comfort you, she ended up in a premonition, came out of it crying and then she cried herself to sleep. I'm trying to figure out what she could've seen that made her act that way. If it was a demon attack, she would've gone straight to the Book of Shadows which leads me to believe it was something else concerning you."

Paige was worried that her sisters might have discovered her secret. "Did she … did she say anything after the premonition?" she asked hoping to not give any clues to Piper.

"Just that we couldn't stop whatever was in the premonition and that it was never going to be okay." Piper wasn't surprised that Paige wanted to know the content of a premonition concerning her but the way she asked made her wonder. "Paige, do you know what was in the premonition? Do you understand what Phoebe meant?"

Once Paige had heard what Phoebe had said, she began freaking out inside. 'She knows' was the only thought in her brain. Hearing Piper ask her a question, she quickly focused. "No. I have no idea what she meant." Paige felt sorry for lying to Piper but this was one thing she couldn't let out in this new family of hers. "Ummm, Piper can I go downstairs, get something to eat? I'm feeling much better and I'm kind of hungry."

Piper was distracted when she said okay to Paige's request. Her mind was busy trying to put puzzle pieces together and she would have never agreed if she knew what Paige was about to do.

As Paige made her way downstairs, she quickly decided what to do. "Okay, Leo's gone so he can't sense me. However, I was orbed over here which means no car. I should orb home, get dressed and start driving someplace, anyplace." Paige mainly just wanted to get away and fast. She quickly went into the kitchen where she couldn't be seen and orbed to her apartment.

Piper was upstairs waiting for her other sister to wake up. Finally, she heard Phoebe start to stir. She was quickly by her side. "Hey kiddo. Feeling calm enough to tell me what's going seeing as you know something that I'm betting Paige already knows. I just don't know what that thing is yet."

Phoebe took a deep breath before responding. "Paige was abused as a child."


	7. Beach anyone?

Part Eight

"What?" asked Piper trying to remain calm although her body and brain was going into overdrive from Phoebe's comment.

"Paige. She … was whipped at least once to the point of unconsciousness. Piper, our baby sister was beaten and tortured growing up." At her words, both the sisters broke down in each other's arms. They stayed like this for several minutes until Phoebe noticed someone missing from the room.

"Piper, where's Paige?"

"Uhhh. She said … said something about being hungry and feeling better, so I let her go downstairs to the kitchen."

"I think we had better go and have a little discussion with our sister," said Phoebe, determined to get to the bottom of this. Both the sisters headed downstairs, ready to get Paige to spill her guts. On the way down, they were both wondering silently why Paige hadn't told them. Sure they hadn't known each other long, but they were sisters. As they entered the kitchen, the sisters were surprised to see no sign that Paige had even entered the room.

"Uh-oh," said Phoebe. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"If it's along the lines of 'my new sisters have discovered my big secret and I don't feel like sharing so I'm going to orb away even though I'm sick and need their assistance', then yeah, I think we're on the same page." Replied Piper sarcastically.

"Any ideas where she might have gone?" asked Phoebe, now extremely concerned for her sister.

"Well, she was still in the clothes we gave her so maybe her apartment to get dressed?"

"Sounds good. I'll drive."

"No way," said Piper as she grabbed the keys to the Jeep and her jacket. "My car, I'm the oldest, I drive." Phoebe stuck her tongue out at her sister's logic but grabbed her own jacket and followed Piper out the door and into the car. Both of the sisters were hoping they could find their sister and quickly.

The drive over to Paige's apartment was completed in silence, Phoebe and Piper each lost in their own thoughts. When they pulled up into the complex, they saw that her car was missing from the parking lot.

"Okay, now what?" said Phoebe in frustration as she slammed her hands on the dashboard.

Piper raised her eyebrow at the sign of Phoebe's temper, but didn't comment. "We are witches aren't we? We can go home, scry for her, and then bring her home where we can hopefully talk this whole thing out." As Piper was saying this, she turned the car around and headed back the way they'd come.

As soon as the car came to a somewhat complete stop, Phoebe had jumped out, gone in to the house not even bothering to close the door behind her, and run up the stairs to the attic. Piper entered a bit more sedately, closing the door behind her and taking off her jacket before rushing up the stairs after Phoebe.

When she arrived upstairs, she found her sister leaning over their much-used map of San Francisco and the surrounding area, twirling the crystal over it. As she looked over her sister's shoulder, Piper saw the crystal land on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge in the section of the map marked Golden Gate State Park. Looking even closer, she saw that it had landed on the small beach that was part of the park. "Okay. Phoebe, bring the map and the crystal in case she leaves where she is. We also need to bring a set of warm clothes, some blankets, and Grams' medicine." Piper ordered. "And if she was stupid enough to get soaking wet in the Pacific Ocean, while she is already sick, then we are also going to need some towels."

Phoebe and Piper quickly grabbed what they thought they needed and rushed out to the Jeep with all of it. Piper once again drove once everything and one was in the car.

Reaching the beach took a half hour as they fought traffic to get over the bridge and off the freeway onto the appropriate exit. Once they had pulled in to the park, Piper asked Phoebe to scry again to make sure Paige hadn't gone anywhere. The crystal landed in the exact same spot as before so Piper began to navigate the SUV down the steep and narrow road to the cove where the beach was. Thankfully, when they pulled into the parking lot, they quickly spotted Paige's car. Piper and Phoebe got out of the car, thankful for their jackets as the wind coming off the ocean was cold. Piper grabbed a blanket before closing the door and following Phoebe towards their wayward sister who was somewhere on the beach.

After about ten minutes of searching, they found her sitting on the sand right where the waves were stopping on the beach. Her shoes were off, indicating that she had been in the water. That and the fact that she was wet from the waist down. Her eyes were red from crying and her hair was wet from the ocean spray. Phoebe sat down beside her while Piper wrapped the blanket around Paige's shoulders before sitting on the other side of her.

"How did you find me so fast?" asked Paige after sitting in silence with her sisters for a few minutes.

"Scryed for you." Replied Piper.

"Oh" was Paige's response and they relapsed in to silence for a few minutes more.

"This is my favorite place in the whole entire world." Paige said quietly while her sisters listened intently, not wanting to miss a thing. "I always come to the ocean to relax, get away from the world because the ocean offers you the opportunity to do that. I can take the ocean to almost anyplace in the world. It is limitless in its ability to give freedom unlike people who are stuck on land." Paige choked back a sob.

"Paige, honey. Why didn't you tell us?" asked Phoebe gently.

"I didn't want you to know." Replied Paige. "It's part of my past. I've dealt with it and moved past it. If I told you, you would act only God knows how and it would just continue over something that isn't that important in the grand scheme of things."

The sisters sat silent at Paige's last remark. Finally, Piper asked, "Paige are you ready to go? In case you forgot we had a deal which currently you are in violation of."

Paige sat looking at the incoming waves for a minute before answering, "Yeah. We can go."

Phoebe and Piper got to their feet and helped Paige to hers. They then guided Paige to the Jeep. When she protested about leaving her car, Piper's look and Phoebe's explanation of how they would come back to get it silenced her. She also protested taking another dose of Grams' medicine even though Piper could feel how much warmed she was than earlier. The only thing Paige didn't object to was changing clothes. Finally medicated, and in warm clothes, Paige got into the car, laying with her head in Piper's lap in the backseat. Piper pulled a blanket over both of them. Paige fell asleep with Piper running her fingers through her hair.

Phoebe drove them home, but as she pulled into the driveway Piper asked her to continue driving until they reached the San Francisco Memorial Hospital ER entrance. Paige awoke at hearing the words, hospital and ER.

"What?" she complained sleepily. "You guys can't take me there. Please don't. If you do and they see something they shouldn't, how are we going to explain ourselves?"

"When you say something they shouldn't," Piper asked levelly looking into Paige's brown eyes. "Do you mean something witchy or something having to do with your abuse?"


	8. Massage

Thank you for all the reviews.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.

Breaking from Piper's steady gaze, Paige began to play with the hem of the blanket. "A little bit of both," she mumbled to herself. "I mean, what if I started coughing and then I orbed in and out. It could totally expose us as being something other than normal." Paige continued in a slightly louder voice.

Piper and Phoebe shared a glance that contained everything that needed to be shared. Whether Paige knew it or not, she'd hit a sore point. The last time their magic had been exposed, they'd had lost their other sister. Neither sister wanted to go through that hell again.

"Okay, Paige." Said Piper. "We won't take you to the hospital, but another deal needs to be made seeing how the last was broken."

Paige objected, "The last one wasn't broken. You never said I couldn't leave the house."

Meeting Piper's steely gaze, Paige almost immediately wilted. "Yeah. See I thought that it was implied when we brought you home that you weren't supposed to go anywhere without one of your sisters. And there is this little matter of you hiding something from us. Care to dig yourself in any deeper?"

"Not particularly," muttered Paige, feeling much like a teenager caught coming in after curfew. "So what's the new deal?"

"Let's get you into the house, and then I will let you know."

With that, everyone got out of the car and Phoebe and Piper helped an extremely tired Paige into the Manor. They went into the living room and Piper and Paige laid together on one of the couches while Phoebe sat across from them on the other one. A period of silence came into existence until Paige broke it.

"What is the new deal I get to agree to so I can stay away from the medical profession at large?"

Piper and Phoebe once again shared a look. This one had Phoebe implicitly agreeing to anything Piper would ask of Paige and vice versa.

"Well, honey," started Piper. "You have shown us, that you don't trust us yet. So what can we do to start to establish trust between us, not only as sisters but also as friends?"

"No idea, but since you're bringing it up, I have the feeling that you have some idea of what to do. Even though I'm afraid of what that might be." The last was muttered under Paige's breath rebelliously, but Piper still heard it.

"Paige, it's okay to be afraid of expanding your horizons. Most people are terrified when faced with something new. I know I was, still am, when it comes to you. I don't know you like I know Phoebe, there are some things I'm not sure how to go about doing and it's going to take awhile before I feel fully comfortable with everything about you. But the only way we can move pass that is if we start to share everything. So here's the deal. All three of us need to start sharing everything, whether it is feelings or dreams or whatever. Paige, you also going to let us do everything for you for at least the next week. That is everything from bathing to eating to anything else you can think of. You will not do anything for yourself. We are going to show you that we do care about you and you are going to find out that you can trust us with yourself."

"Okay" said Paige. "I can agree to that. It isn't too different from our first deal."

"There is one last condition Paige." Said Phoebe quietly. She had been listening to Piper and agreeing with every word. She just needed to add one last thing that she knew Piper would approve of. "You need to tell us about your past. All of it, the good and the not so good."

Paige swallowed hard. They wanted her to tell them her biggest, darkest secret. Yet somehow she knew that getting the main idea to them would be enough. They didn't need to know full details. In fact, if they were going to be watching her for the next few days, they would probably find out most of them.

Paige looked to be thinking hard. Piper and Phoebe knew that if she refused, they couldn't push the issue without pushing Paige away. They also knew that they had to find out, one way or another. Finally, the expression on Paige's face changed. She appeared to have made an agreement with herself.

"I'll tell you. But it won't be with full details. I'm leaving out the gory stuff. Also, I won't tell you all at once. It will be done gradually."

"Okay, sweetie." Said Piper, glad to see Paige opening up a little. "But for right now, let's get you upstairs and into bed. I'm calling a sister sleepover in my room tonight."

"Good," replied Phoebe with a big smile breaking the tension that had built up in the room. "I need to clean up my room so we can have one in there tomorrow."

"I'll grab some movies and make some popcorn. Phoebe can you carry Paige up to my room please?"

"Sure. One piggyback ride for the baby sis coming up. Hop on Paige and hold on."

"You guys are going to kill me with sweetness and caring." Mumbled Paige who was three sheets to the wind as the day's events caught up with her.

"Well, that is the plan to some extent. Though we aren't trying to kill you. At least not yet." Was Phoebe's overly cheerful reply.

Once, everyone was settled on Piper's bed upstairs, they started the movie.

"Isn't White Christmas a touch out of season?" asked Paige skeptically when the opening scene started playing.

"Yeah, but it has such great music and a very sweet love story." Replied Piper who had Paige resting against her, Paige's head on her shoulder. The rest of the movie was seen in silence except for the end when all three sisters joined in to sing the final song. Piper looked over as the credits finished to still see Paige awake. Piper thought Paige would've been asleep by then and she really wanted her to fall asleep so Paige could rest and try to fight off the fever that Piper could feel coming back.

"Sweetie, is there anything we can do so you can go to sleep?"

"If I could just relax. I've been trying but I keep tensing up. I'm sore all over and it's not helping." Paige whined. At this point her sisters figured that Paige was seriously overtired, seeing as they hadn't heard her whine since they'd met her.

"Okay honey. Why don't we try what I wanted to do earlier?" offered Phoebe not wanting her sister to be in pain.

Paige took a deep breath knowing that this would mean that her sisters would see her back. "Okay, but if you want to talk about what you see, it will have to be done tomorrow."

Phoebe and Piper agreed to Paige's statement before helping her take off her shirt.

"We can't see anything wrong, Paige." Said Phoebe surprised after what she had seen in her premonition earlier. She'd thought at the very least there would be some scar tissue visible.

"I cast a spell when I first found out that I was a witch so no one could see my scars. Unfortunately it didn't fully work. Witches who touch my back, skin to skin, break the spell but only for their eyes. That's why when you made me take the bath earlier you didn't see anything." Piper decided to lecture Paige on personal gain spells later. First her sister needed some rest. Piper handed Phoebe the bottle of Grams' lotion she had brought up with lunch and helped Paige lay comfortably on her stomach.

"Paige, the lotion's going to be cold at first but it will warm up as Phoebe works it into your back. You do need to relax to some extent for it to work though. The stuff works miracles, I promise."

Paige visibly tried to loosen some of her muscles.

"Paige, I'm going to start now," said Phoebe not wanting to startle her sister into doing who knows what. Phoebe started to apply the lotion to Paige's back, not yet rubbing it in. When her hand first started touching Paige, the scars, hidden before, suddenly appeared. They were worse than Phoebe had anticipated even though she had had an idea of what they might look like. There were more scars than from the one beating she had seen and they seemed to cover all of Paige's back in varying colors of scar tissue.

Paige flinched when Phoebe started, due to the temperature of the cream and the unknown hands that were running over her back. Piper saw this and tried to soothe her sister. "Shh, Paige," she cooed when Phoebe began massaging Paige's back. "It's only Phoebe, sweetie. She's just removing the soreness from your back. Just relax. She won't hurt you. I guarantee it. Shh, it's okay. No one is going to hurt you." Under Phoebe's gentle ministrations with the help of Grams' lotion, Paige relaxed to a certain extent only to tense up when Phoebe hit certain areas of her back. When that happened, Piper helped Paige calm down until Paige finally fell asleep from the stress of not trying to stress.

"Piper," whispered Phoebe, once she had finished rubbing all the cream in, trying not to wake up her baby sister. "She was so tense. And it seemed like every time I relaxed one muscle, another one just tensed up. I swear I could feel individual muscles bunching underneath my hands. I'm surprised that she even has any skin left. The scars were everywhere, Piper. Everywhere!"


	9. Miss Independent

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I really appreciate it.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize. If I did I would be rich, which I'm not.

Piper immediately gathered Phoebe in her arms and just let her cry everything out. She wasn't surprised at Paige's reaction to having her back touched but the number of scars indicated that Paige was abused for a long time. She was worried about Paige waking up, but she was more worried about Paige having a nightmare and then waking up alone. Piper didn't want to do anything that might erode Paige's beginning trust in her sisters.

After several minutes of almost nonstop tears and sobs, Phoebe's breathing regulated to a pattern Piper recognized instantly. She had cried herself to sleep in Piper's arms. Piper slowly released Phoebe from her embrace, and gently laid her next to Paige. In her sleep, Phoebe instinctively moved closer to Paige as if to offer comfort even in slumber. Piper gave a small smile as she watched her two younger sisters sleep in peace.

The peace was shattered at two in the morning when Paige sat upright in a cold sweat. Piper, who had fallen asleep soon after Phoebe, felt the bed move with Paige's sudden movement and almost instantaneously sat up to provide Paige with the reassurance that she wasn't alone in the room. Paige initially fought against the arms that embraced her to soothe her, but under Piper's gentling, she eventually relaxed into the calm they provided.

"Want to talk about it?" asked Piper once she was sure Paige was awake and aware of her surroundings.

"Do I have to?" replied Paige sleepily, her body calming from her nightmare.

"No, sweetie. You don't have to. But it might make you feel better to get some of it off your chest." Piper then noticed that Paige's eyes were closed and her breathing was steady if not as clear as she would've liked it. She laid back down with Paige still in her arms and fell asleep wondering why bad things happened to good people.

The next morning, Paige awoke to find herself still in Piper's comforting embrace. She looked around and realized that she was the only one awake. Snuggling further into Piper's hold, she attempted to fall back asleep. However, Mr. Sandman evidently didn't feel the need to grace Paige with his presence as she lay awake for a half hour before deciding to go downstairs to get something to eat. She carefully slipped from Piper's arms trying to avoid waking her big sister. As she crept out the door however, not knowing the old house, she caused a loud creak from the floorboards underneath her feet. Phoebe, who was on the knife's edge between awake and asleep, immediately jumped onto the awake side and rose up to see her baby sister standing in the doorway with an 'oops' expression on her face.

"Morning, Paige. Where are you going at," yawning, she checked the clock, "eight o'clock in the morning?"

"Oh, you know. I was thinking food and a stop in the bathroom."

"I see. And why didn't you wake one of us up so we could help you?"

"Didn't want to bother you. Besides, Piper woke up with me earlier and you looked pretty tired, not to mention you were fast asleep." Paige gave a sheepish grin and a shrug.

"Paige, the deal we made had us taking care of you. Not you taking care of yourself. You should've woken us up to assist you. What if something had happened to you downstairs while we were up here sleeping? You could have gotten in to serious trouble."

While Phoebe was saying this, Paige was rethinking the deal she had made. Did she really want someone to look after her, someone to be dependent on? Anytime, she was dependent on someone, bad things had happened to her. Her being beaten when she was younger, the Matthews, her only decent foster parents, dying when she was a teenager; all had happened when she relied on someone else. Results from the loss of her independence, from her willingness to let people into her life had led to her drinking problem. If her sisters followed the pattern people had followed with her Paige's entire life, she would lose them and then she would be lost as well with the loss of her true family.

"You know what. I don't have to put up with your _overwhelming_ concern," said Paige harshly. "I don't need or want you guys looking after me. I'm outta here." Paige quickly did a quick about face and rapidly strode out of the room. She headed downstairs with full intention of getting to her car and going back to her apartment or, better yet, some small hotel where her sisters couldn't find her. Keeping in mind that they had found her before by scrying, Paige made a quick stop in the attic to find a spell in the Book of Shadows to hide herself from tracking and locating spells. She decided to worry about Leo sensing her when he came back. Finding the appropriate spell, she wrote it down and orbed to her car still next in the parking lot by the beach. All the orbing was causing Paige to feel sicker than she had at the Manor, but she shook it off as a onetime thing from the orbing. She cast the spell and got into the car deciding to go to a little bed and breakfast she had discovered near Bodega Bay, about three hours north of San Francisco. She drove off heading north on 101.

Phoebe sat in shock on the bed after Paige's outburst. She had thought that they were making progress with Paige and gaining her trust, but apparently she was wrong. Unfortunately, Piper chose that moment to wake up and look around the room in search of Paige. Seeing her one sister awake and the other one missing in action, Piper decided to find out what was going on. She was receiving a very unsettling vibe from Phoebe and decided to see what was causing it.

"Pheebs," she asked carefully seeing the expression on her sister's face. "Where's Paige?"

"I … I," Phoebe didn't want to say it. "I don't know."

Piper's expression became guarded. "You don't know like she wasn't here when you woke up or you don't know because she went somewhere without telling you?" she questioned.

"It's more like I woke up while she was leaving the room and we had a chat and then she left without telling me where she was going." Phoebe cowered in fear of the outburst that was sure to come from her statement.

"Left the room or left the house?" was the quiet question.

"The house," was the whispered reply. At this simple answer, Piper officially lost it.

"She left the house _again_! And you let her go? Phoebe, what on Earth were you thinking? Our sister is physically ill and currently somewhat mentally and emotionally unstable! Why didn't you stop her? What did you two say in the 'chat' you had that caused her to leave?" yelled Piper.

Phoebe would have been afraid for her life at that moment except that she knew that Piper was just acting like Prue would've if the same thing had happened to her. Piper was just worried about Paige and trying to protect her.

Phoebe gave a quick recap of events for Piper's sake. "She was walking out the door, to go downstairs she said, when the floor creaked and I fully woke up. I then asked her what she was doing. She replied and I then asked why she didn't wake one of us up to help her like in our deal. She said she didn't want to bother us and I then gave a small lecture on how she doesn't bother us and how we were going to take care of her. The thing is during the lecture her face changed, hardened. At the end she said she didn't need us and then she walked out the door to who knows where. Piper, she said she didn't want us to look after her and help her. I thought we were making progress but she … Paige …."

With the newest revelation, Phoebe fell apart much like the night before. Piper knew that Phoebe had done just what she would have so her arms immediately encircled her sister and she started comforting her. "It's okay Pheebs. We'll find her. We have to." While Piper was saying this though, she was wondering what had caused the turnaround in her youngest sister. She had thought Paige was beginning to open up to them and that she wasn't going to run again.

Phoebe eventually calmed down and she and Piper quickly went to the attic to try scrying for their headstrong sister.


	10. Runaway

Sorry about the time it has taken me to update. Hope you like. And thanks for all the reviews. I never imagined people would actually like this story.

Disclaimer: I am neither Aaron Spelling nor Constance M. Burge. As such I do not own Charmed. I also do no own any part of Linkin Park.

"Damn it! Why isn't this working?" Phoebe started swearing while trying to scry for Paige for what seemed like the millionth time, but the crystal wasn't landing anywhere. It just kept circling and circling and circling. Piper had jumped at Phoebe's outburst, they both had been trying to find Paige for over an hour with no luck. Her eyes moved around the cluttered attic until they finally rested on the Book of Shadows. Phoebe followed Piper's gaze and gasped.

"You don't think …" Phoebe trailed off.

"That she used magic to hide herself. Oh yeah I do. She's hidden herself before with it." Piper said. "She doesn't seem to have any worries about personal gain when it comes to hiding her secret."

While Piper and Phoebe were discussing Paige's use of spells and trying to figure out which one she had used in the hopes of finding something to reverse it, the sought after sister was making her way through Sonoma wine country while enjoying the beautiful scenery and the gorgeous day that was showing itself. 'This is soooo much better than being cooped up in a house with two overprotective half sisters watching my every move.' She thought to herself. 'I hope they aren't worrying about me.' At that thought, Paige gave herself a mental shake. 'I'm not going to worry about them. We are through. I can take care of myself, no help needed or wanted.' With that final thought, she turned up the CD player which had started to play Linkin Park's song Runaway.

_I wanna run away  
Never say goodbye  
I wanna know the truth  
Instead of wondering why  
I wanna know the answers  
No more lies  
I wanna shut the door  
And open up my mind_

"I think we need to try something else since this isn't working. I mean, Piper, we've tried everything magical except for calling for Leo and having him sense her. And that isn't an option since he is unavailable."

"You mean the police."

"I was thinking we could call Darryl and have him put an APB out on Paige's car. If we can't find her, I'm sure the police can."

"That might actually work," said Piper excited about the chance to find her sister. "Geez, Pheebs. When did you get so smart" They went downstairs to make the phone call.

"Oh, hey Darryl. What's up?" asked Phoebe trying to be cheerful.

"Oh no. What's going on now?" Covering the phone, Darryl asked quietly, "Please tell me there is nothing demonic I have to be on the lookout for."

"Don't worry, there is nothing demonic going on. But we do need your help looking for something. Actually, someone. Paige sort of ran off this morning and we need to find her because she is sick and well, we have some things we need to work out."

"What exactly do you want me to do? I can't file a missing persons report, she hasn't been gone for more than 24 hours."

"We were hoping you could put an APB out on her car. We think she is driving someplace and we just want to know where she is so we can go and get her."

"You don't want her to get stopped?" asked Darryl making sure of the sisters' intent.

"Nope. Just want to know her final destination."

"Okay. I can do that. It'll be on the wire in an hour. So by midday everyone in California will be on the lookout."

"Thanks Darryl. We really appreciate this."

"No problem. I'll call as soon as I hear something."

"We'll be at home waiting. Thanks again."

"I should have some information for you in a few hours. Talk to you soon."

With that, both Phoebe and Darryl hung up, one to start the paperwork on finding a car and the other to comfort a very anxious sister.

After hanging up the phone, Phoebe looked at a worrying Piper who appeared to be trying to wear a hole in the floor of the kitchen. "Relax Piper. Darryl will find her, then we can get to her and work all this out."

"But why did she leave? I thought we were finally getting through to her about our intentions. She doesn't need to be afraid of us. She can trust us. For God's sake, we are her sisters." Cried Piper in frustration.

Phoebe just looked at her sister, knowing that the same thoughts had been running through her head. "I don't know why she left. But when we can find her, we can ask." Phoebe said, determination filling her voice.

While Phoebe and Darryl were having their conversation, Paige had stopped in Santa Rosa to fill up on gas. She also found a drug store and bought some non-drowsy cough syrup along with a generic fever reducer/pain reliever and a large bottle of water. Once she was back in the car, Paige took the recommended dose of both the drugs in an attempt to stop her rising temperature and at least temporarily stop her coughing which was increasing in severity and decreasing in time between bouts of it. She got back on the two-lane highway only to feel woozy about twenty minutes later. 'Oh crap' Paige thought. 'How the hell am I supposed to get to where I want to go without driving off the road?' "Duuuuhhh," she said out loud to herself. "I have built in Whitelighter transportation. Besides if my sisters are looking for me, this should give them a red herring." Paige started looking for a place where she could leave her car and orb to the bed and breakfast, not worrying about the explanation she would have to give arriving without any visible form of transportation. She found a unused gravel road and pulled off of the highway on to it. Looking around to make sure no one was watching her, she orbed out to one of her favorite places in the world. One hopefully neither of her sisters knew about.

Darryl called the Manor around midday, like he said he would, but he didn't have any news on Paige's whereabouts for the sisters who had returned to the attic to continue trying magical methods of finding their baby sister. Around three in the afternoon though he called again. The CHP had found the lime-green Beetle on the side of the road, but with no Paige and no sign as to where she had gone. They were glad to hear that the car was nearby, but the fact that their sister was gone concerned them immensely. They thanked Darryl for the news and his assistance before trying to brainstorm where Paige had gone.

"Okay, I'm Paige. I'm alone and confused about my relationship with my sisters. Where do I go to think?" said Phoebe, trying to guess her baby sister's next move.

"She gave us that answer the other day, Pheebs." Replied Piper. "The beach. The only problem is that do you know how many miles of public beach there are within the state of California alone. The only good news is that since she orbed there, that means she has been there before so we shouldn't have to leave the Bay Area for someplace like Australia. If only we had a clue for what part of the Pacific, she was heading for."

Phoebe hit her head with her palm. "I think I might be able to help. One sec." She grabbed the phone and rapidly dialed a number from memory. "Hey Darryl. It's Phoebe. Where was Paige's car? On highway 1 up by the Sonoma-Marin county line, I see. Just wanted to know so we could pick it up and drive it home for her. Thanks for the help. We'll call if anything more develops." Phoebe hung up the phone looking pleased with herself for the first time since Paige had left the Manor.


	11. Hide and Seek

Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed or anything you recognize.

In case you were wondering, Bodega Bay is a real place about an hour and half north of San Francisco.

Thanks for all the reviews.

Paige had finally arrived at her intended destination, the Bodega Bay Bed and Breakfast. It was right on the beach and had excellent food. Paige walked right in and managed to get a room overlooking the ocean at a reduced rate since tourist season hadn't started yet. As a matter of fact, there were only two other rooms at the bed and breakfast that were occupied and most of the other inns in the area were in the same state of emptiness. Paige was isolated, not only from her sisters, but also from the rest of the world. 'Now if only I felt better,' she thought as she was recovering from another coughing fit brought on by orbing to the inn. It was only midafternoon but Paige felt so tired from her exertions earlier in the day that once she was up in her room, she fell onto the bed and into a somewhat restful sleep.

"I am the smartest sister in the entire world," Phoebe crowed, having figured out a place where there was a good chance of Paige being.

"Want to fill me in on your sudden brainstorm?" asked Piper, annoyed at being left out of Phoebe's thought patterns.

"One of my friends has a cabin in Sonoma County near a beach. Paige's car was found on the route we used to take to get there. Therefore I think she is heading to that beach. My best guess is that she is somewhere near Bodega Bay."

"So now we have a decent idea of where she is. How do we go about finding her? I'm sure that place is full of places where she could stay."

"I think it is time for another phone call to Darryl." With that, Phoebe picked up the phone and dialed from memory.

"Morris here."

"Hey Darryl. It's me again. Could you by any chance see if Paige has used her credit cards lately?"

"Phoebe, I need a warrant to obtain that sort of info."

"You don't know anyone that could just, you know, look it up for you?"

Darryl did in fact know someone, he wasn't sure that finding Paige was worth it though. Phoebe could sense his hesitation. "Come on Darryl. We need to find her. The last time we took her temperature it was over 100 degrees. She is really ill and I don't think she will get better on her own. She needs her sisters."

Darryl thought of the Halliwells as his sisters. He couldn't ignore the fact that Paige was that ill and all alone, not in one of his friends. "Okay. You got me. Let me make a phone call. I'll call you back within the hour."

"Thanks Darryl," said Phoebe relieved at getting their friend's help. "Talk to you in a bit." Phoebe hung up the phone and looked at Piper meeting her gaze.

"Let's get the car packed and get ready to retrieve our ill sister. Darryl should have some information for us before the hour is up." Piper just nodded and left the room to get some things she thought Paige might need. Phoebe stood looking at the Book of Shadows, hoping that the sisters could connect again and have their bond become even stronger than before.

Darryl called back thirty minutes later. "Got it," yelled Piper up the stairs to her sister. "Okay Darryl. Where is she?"

"Her latest credit card transaction was with the Bodega Bay Bed and Breakfast. I have an address. Want it?"

"Just let me grab pen and paper." Piper quickly copied down the address Darryl gave her.

"Thanks Darryl for all your help. Want us to call you when we find her?"

"No that's okay. Just get her feeling better and I hope you guys fix whatever is wrong. Have fun at the beach." Darryl hung up.

"Okay, Pheebs. We have directions, address, and phone number of this place, appropriate supplies to take care of Paige, and overnight bags for all of us. Estimated driving time three and one half hours. The question now is are we sure we want to go get her? From what you said she didn't seem to be any hurry to see us again anytime soon. Besides, doesn't it seem a little stalkeresque that we are running after her?"

"Piper," said Phoebe looking deep in to Piper's brown eyes that so matched her baby sister's. "Paige is our sister whether she likes it or not. If I was in her condition would you have let me out of your sight much less out of the house?"

"Well no…"

"And why is that?" persisted Phoebe trying to make her sister see why it was so important for them to go after Paige.

"Because I would want you to get better. Because when you don't feel well, I don't do as well. Because when you hurt, I hurt. Because I love you."

"Exactly." Phoebe could see the light go on in Piper's head. "We need to go after our little sister so she knows that what you just told me holds the same for her as well. Besides," Phoebe added with one of her cheeky smiles, "Maybe now you will have a chance to tie one of your little sisters to the bed."

Unfortunately Phoebe's attempt at humor backfired when she realized what she had said. "Oh God. You don't think that has already happened to her. Piper?"

Piper just shook her head and the two sisters got into the car to get to their missing sister. Hoping that their sister would let them help her.

Paige meanwhile had awoken from her nap and was enjoying walking along the beach, letting the waves lap at her bare feet. She had taken her shoes off and held them loosely in her hand as she strolled along. The cool breeze felt good on her hot face although she was beginning to shiver from the sweat cooling her overheated body. Paige ignored this though. She was determined to enjoy herself and for her that meant staying out on the beach for as long as she wanted. Paige did make sure that she stayed close to the inn in case of another dizzy spell. Finally, she sat on the wet sand and just stared out in to the never-ending ocean. It was like she was trying to see past the horizon into the great beyond.

Paige let her thoughts drift over past, present and future. She skipped over the bad parts of her past until she realized that her memories were now those of the past few weeks. She had found her sisters and her destiny. That scared her still. That she had come so close to almost not finding her true path in life. Paige knew that she couldn't give up her destiny. She was part of the Charmed Ones whether she liked it or not. To keep evil from overrunning the world, she had to stay connected to her sisters. Yesterday rolled through her mind unbidden and unwanted. How could she stay part of that unit as she was?

Paige let that final thought linger as she unconsciously shook herself. Then she dismissed it. 'There is no reason to be concerned about it. I can take of myself and they can take care of themselves.' She slowly rose to her feet realizing from the position of the sun and the stiffness of her body that she had been sitting outside for several hours and that it was past the posted dinnertime at the inn. 'Oh well. I wasn't hungry anyways.' She thought to herself as she trudged up the stairs to her room not noticing the black Jeep that was now in the parking lot. Once in her room, Paige barely had time to close the door before another dizzy spell. 'This isn't good.' Was her last thought before she collapsed on the floor not even making it over to the bed.

The drive to the bed and breakfast was completed almost in total silence as Piper and Phoebe pondered Paige and the situation they were in. The only sounds were Piper asking for the occasional direction from Phoebe and the soft music playing on the radio. When they pulled into the inn's parking lot Phoebe immediately got out of the car while Piper hesitated. "Piper, you coming or do I need to only get a room for myself?"

"Are we positive about this? What if we hurt her even more? What if we completely ruin our relationship past the point of no return? What if…"

Phoebe could see that Piper was playing the what if game and taking it way too far. "Piper we will be fine. All of us. But that won't occur unless we go in there and find our sister so we can talk together. Are you coming in or are you going to sleep in the car?"

Piper got out of the car and went up the front steps of the inn with Phoebe at her side. They went into the inn and at the front desk asked for a room. As the desk clerk was finishing the transaction, he casually asked if they had a sister. Both Phoebe and Piper looked at each other. "Yes. We do. Why do you ask?" Piper finally answered.

"In the room to the right of yours there is a girl in her early twenties who looks a lot like you," the clerk said indicating Piper.

"Is her name Paige?" asked Phoebe.

"Yeah."

"Then yes she is our sister. We came here to surprise her. It's her birthday tomorrow." Said Phoebe in a whisper as she leaned in close to the desk. "Hey do you think you could do us a favor? We wanted to decorate her room so is there anyway we could get a key to her room so we could fix it up?"

The poor boy just gulped and began to make a token protest but Phoebe's feminine wiles worked and as she and Piper went upstairs along with their luggage, they had the spare key to Paige's room. As they entered their room and setup their stuff, Piper began to tease Phoebe. "Geez, Pheebs. I didn't realize that guy was your type. You almost made him wet his pants."

"It's not my fault I can have that effect on the opposite sex. Besides that guy was so not my type." Said Phoebe shuddering in disgust.

Piper was about to continue teasing Phoebe when she heard a loud thump coming from what they knew to be Paige's room. It sounded suspiciously like someone falling down. She wasted no time grabbing the key to Paige's room and rushing next door to open the door. She saw Paige on the ground unconscious. "Oh shit. Phoebe get the hell over here! NOW!"


	12. Coming Home

Okay wrote this during school so I'm not quite sure how it turned out.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize.

Phoebe, hearing Piper's urgent cry, rushed next door to Paige's room to be stopped in the doorway by the sight of her baby sister unconscious in her oldest sister's arms. Running over and flinging herself on the ground next to her sisters, Phoebe began trying to wake Paige up, "C'mon Paige. Wake up! You gotta tell us what's going on. Get up!"

There was no response from Paige even when gently shaken by Piper or patted on the cheek by Phoebe.

After about five unsuccessful minutes of trying to awaken Paige, Piper and Phoebe decided that they would all be more comfortable in their room. So Phoebe lifted a limp Paige off of the floor and Piper grabbed some of Paige's stuff to make her more comfortable. They went back into their room and Phoebe gently placed Paige on one of the beds in the room and began trying to wake her up again. While carrying Paige, Phoebe had felt the vast amount of heat radiating off of her sister's body and was so far past worried that it wasn't even funny.

"Paigey girl, time to get up. C'mon your sisters are here to help you and make it all better. Wake up. C'mon, you don't want us to take you to a hospital. Right?"

While Phoebe continued on her mission of waking Paige up, Piper had been wetting a washcloth with cold water and getting the thermometer. She handed the washcloth to Phoebe, who gave her a grateful look before using it to wipe Paige's face and neck helping to cool her down. Piper put the thermometer into Paige's ear waiting until it beeped a second later before removing it and looking at the readout. "Well?" asked Phoebe impatiently.

"It's back up to where it was originally but a touch worse, one hundred and three degrees. I really think that we need to get her to a hospital stat."

Phoebe began to argue against taking Paige there citing various reasons, most of which Piper agreed with. However, there still remained the fact that Paige's fever was raging out of control and she needed help which she wasn't accepting from her sisters. The hospital was the next best thing for Paige.

Paige gradually awoke from complete darkness to varying shades of gray. It hurt too much to open her eyes so she tried to figure out what was going on from her other senses. Unfortunately they weren't making much sense. From what she could remember, she had fallen on the hard wood floor in her room, yet she seemed to be on something soft, a bed. There was also something cold and damp on her forehead relieving a bit of the pain from her raging headache and her burning face. She thought she was hallucinating though when she heard her sisters' voices arguing about something. She couldn't make out the words.

"Pi-Piper?" she asked, her voice harsh from her sore throat caused by her coughing fits. "Phoebe?" Paige almost immediately broke into a coughing fit that she was helpless to stop or control. Phoebe quickly moved to her side and helped her sit up so she could sip some water and try and gain control over her breathing. Piper also went over but she just sat on the bed talking in soothing tones to Paige trying to get her to calm down. Finally the fit ended and Paige relaxed enough to lie back down.

"Hey, kiddo," said Piper softly when she saw her baby sister relax into the pillows. "How ya feeling?"

Paige wondered how her sisters had found her in a secluded part of Sonoma County but she decided to save her questions for later when she could fully comprehend the answers. "Like shit," was her concise response.

Phoebe decided to make her presence known. "Okay Piper. I'm agreeing with you. Let's get her to a hospital before she gets any worse." Piper looked at Phoebe startled with her sudden change of opinion, but Phoebe gave her a look that said 'No I didn't change my mind, but go with me.'

"Right. I'll pack up all of our stuff and check us out. You stay here until we're checked out and then you can bring Paige down to the car. I'll sit with her in the backseat. You're driving."

"Wait just a minute. What the hell are you two …" Paige began saying but Phoebe interrupted.

"We are taking you to a hospital as is our right as your sisters and your elders. No arguing allowed."

"But …" started Paige. Piper now brought her two cents to the conversation.

"But nothing Paige. You have broken two deals with us. Not to mention that you left the house without telling us where you were going. Then you used a spell to hide your whereabouts from us. You no longer have any say whatsoever in what happens to you. You lost that right when you cast that spell. New rules are one of us watching over you the entire time you are ill and we will determine when you are well enough to be without our care. What we say goes. We will _not_ let you leave us again."

Paige just gaped at Piper. She wasn't used expecting an outburst like that. It was one full of love, concern, and worry; something Paige hadn't experienced since her time with the Matthews.

Taking Paige's silence as acquiescence, Piper began to pack up what few items had been unpacked. Phoebe stayed with Paige as Piper brought the bags down to the Jeep and checked them out of the inn. When Piper came back to the room, she found Paige changed into clean, dry clothes and resting against Phoebe with her head on Phoebe's shoulder. "Okay Paige. Time to go." When Paige made a move to get off the bed though, Phoebe restrained her. "Where are you going?"

Paige had a very puzzled look on her face that wasn't feigned. "Piper said it's time to go. I was _going_ to the car." Gaining some of her attitude back she added without thinking, "Do you have a problem with that?"

"Lose the attitude, Paige." Piper growled. "You are not going anywhere on your own two feet. You have proven yourself to be more irresponsible with yourself than a baby. Therefore, from now until I decide otherwise, you will be treated as such." Piper suddenly smirked. "Be glad that we will refrain from baby talk. Now Phoebe will carry you to the car."

Paige decided that prudence was the better part of virtue so she kept her mouth shut and just nodded. Once in Phoebe's arms, she snuggled deeper into the embrace, grateful for her older sister's warmth since she was freezing all the way to the car. Phoebe noticed Paige shivering but decided to work on fixing it in the car. She did however hold her little sister tighter in an effort to keep her warmer.

Once they arrived at the car, Phoebe let Piper get into the backseat first before placing Paige in the seat. Piper then pulled Paige closer to her, draping her body across the seat, with Paige's head in her lap. Before allowing Paige to lie down though, she forced some of Grams' medicine down her throat in an effort to stop her fever from increasing. Paige's coughing was also in evidence from when she had awoken so hopefully the medicine would help with that as well. Phoebe got into the driver's seat and started up the car once Paige had drank all of the tonic and laid back down. She looked into the rearview mirror and saw Piper running her fingers though Paige's hair in an effort to get her to sleep though it wasn't until the car had gotten on the highway and was going at a steady speed for fifteen minutes that Paige actually fell asleep to the sounds of the road. As soon as Piper was sure Paige was asleep, she began quietly talking to Phoebe.

"So what was the deal with the good sister, bad sister thing back at the inn? You have multiple personality disorder and never tell me or something?"

"No. We needed to provide a unified front to Paige and it was easier for me to change my position without warning than for you to change yours. It's something I learned in psych class. The majority can always win over the minority. If it looked like I wasn't going to allow you to take Paige to the hospital then I don't think she would have been as willing to come with us."

"We practically ordered her to get into the car, Pheebs. How much more unwilling can she get?"

"She's a grown adult who has been living on her own without anyone to support her for how long Piper? Trust me, she could have really dug her heels in and we would have never gotten her to leave the hotel with us. Then as soon as she could have, she would have orbed God knows where and we would be back at square one. Now, we can look after her in the Manor, we'll just call it Halliwell Hospital when we pull up there and she gets all confused. By the way, excellent big sister tone when you were laying out the rules."

"Thanks, I think. I really don't want to be that strict with her but I didn't see any other way of getting through. So what do we do next? And please say the word doctor is involved."

"We go home and doctor her." Phoebe said teasingly. "Paige is also going to learn the meaning of tough love and sisterly devotion."

"You know, when I said doctor, I meant the noun not the verb. And could you be a tad more specific about what we need to do?"

Phoebe took on a lecturing tone. "Paige has some very serious abandonment and trust issues that we need to work through with her and this is a very good time to do it. She's vulnerable right now and she knows it which will make it a bit harder, but if we can show her that we won't hurt her when she is down nor will we leave her in her moment of need then all will be good by the time Paige feels better."

"Can we be strict with her and not hurt her? I mean, she's as free spirited as you are and even more independent. She is going to soon realize her lack of personal space if we are all over her like I'm planning to be. Can we be sure she isn't going to run again?"

"Piper, relax. We can do everything we need to. Just remember that tone you used when you were railing at her. That's what she needs and I'm pretty sure that she knows it subconsciously. Now why don't you get some sleep back there? We should get to the Manor in about an hour and a half maybe a bit less due to traffic."

"Okay, Pheebs." Said Piper leaning back in her seat and letting herself relax and drift off still unconsciously running her fingers through Paige's hair. The rest of the drive was made in silence as those in the backseat slept and the driver pondered what to do with the youngest.


	13. The Plan, Or At Least Part of It

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize.

It had taken a little longer than expected, but Phoebe finally pulled in to the driveway of the Manor. "Psst. Piper. Time to wake up." She whispered to her still sleeping sister. Piper jolted awake when she realized the car had stopped.

"We there?" she questioned her eyes still bleary from her nap.

"Yeah. Want me to carry Paige in or should we wake her up?"

Piper looked down at her restlessly sleeping sister, wondering what was going on in her mind right then. "We should probably wake her up. She's going to be disoriented enough as it is. Plus, depending on what is going on in her dream right now, picking her up and carrying might not be a good thing."

"Excellent point. You do the honors."

Piper turned her attention to Paige. "Sweetie, time to wake up. We're here." She purposely did not mention where here was. She wanted to see Paige's reaction to where they were supposed to be. But there was no response from Paige. A bit louder she said, "Paige, you got to get up. We're here."

Paige's mumbled response was along the lines of leave me alone, let me sleep, and I don't need to see a doctor. Piper had had enough now. "Paige, get up now." She said in a voice to rival a drill sergeant for strictness. Paige bolted upright. "Alright, I'm up. But there is a snowball's chance of not melting in hell to get me to go in there."

Phoebe gave a wicked grin. "What? You don't like Halliwell Hospital?" she said pointing to the Manor. Paige just looked confused at her surroundings. "We're not taking you to the hospital."

"At least, not yet," interceded Piper not wanting to make any promises they couldn't keep. "If your state gets any worse though you will end up in the local ER." Paige just looked glad to see the Manor and not the hospital to really notice what Piper and Phoebe were saying. As it was, she barely noticed when Phoebe once again picked her up to carry her in the house and up to Piper's bed where Piper pulled back the covers and Phoebe set her down. Piper then immediately tucked the covers around her sister. "Phoebe, since you got stuck driving while we slept, you can sleep first with Paige. I'll stay up and wake you when I can't stay up any longer."

Paige began to protest, "All I've been doing all day is sleeping. Can we at least try something a little different?"

Piper chose to ignore Paige's outburst and continued with what she was saying. "Go get your pajamas on and meet me back here in ten."

"Gotcha" said Phoebe as she left the room. Piper then turned towards Paige.

"Okay sweetie. You and I both need pajamas as well and you get to go first." Turning to her assortment of clothing, Piper picked out a nightshirt for Paige to wear that would keep her warm yet it would be easy to change in and out of. She then proceeded to undress Paige against her protests. "Piper, I can change my clothes without assistance. And it would be quicker if you let me dress myself."

"A twenty something year old can change her clothes without help. Last time I checked though, you were still on baby status. Do I need to add diapers to my shopping list for tomorrow or will you be a good baby girl?" Piper retorted making sure to remember to check with Phoebe about whether or not she could make good on her threat if need be. Paige immediately quieted down when she heard the word diapers. She still had bad memories of wearing them as a child before becoming potty trained. She remained perfectly still as Piper removed her clothes although she was itching to get the hell away from her sister, away from the Manor, away from San Francisco. She then followed Piper's instructions on putting on the nightgown and no further difficulties arose. Piper then dressed herself in a sleepwear outfit and the two sisters waited in silence until Phoebe came into the room. As soon as she entered, Piper accosted her and the two moved to a corner of the room and began whispering while keeping an eye on Paige who was leaning against the headboard.

"How did it go with changing her clothes?" asked Phoebe.

"She protested once, but I made a threat that seemed to stick. I just need to know if I can follow through on it if we need to."

"What was it?"

"I told her I would add diapers to the shopping list for tomorrow if she didn't act like a good baby girl."

Phoebe quietly whistled before grinning. "Piper, you are a genius. Now we just need to find the button that will push her over the edge so you _can_ follow through."

"Not following, Pheebs. Please explain for those who didn't major in psychology."

"The ability to control one's bladder and bowel are what separates the babies from the adults, well kids, right?"

"Right." Piper said still more than a little confused.

"So, if Paige has to wear diapers, then maybe we can sort of duplicate her entire childhood over the course of her illness. We can show her that being a child with us is a good thing, not the bad thing she has associated with her childhood. Plus, she will lose the last bit of independence she could hold on to so she will _have_ to completely trust us."

The light was dawning in Piper's eyes. "You want us to actually get her back to her childhood so we can fix some of the wrongs done then. The diapers also increase her vulnerability so we can get her to open up more and trust more."

"Exactly," said Phoebe still smiling. "There is nothing like trusting the person who changed your diapers when you were…are a baby."

"Then leave it to me. I know exactly how to cause another outburst." Said Piper looking like a cat who caught a canary. "You go lie down and get ready to sleep. I'll _help_ Paige get ready."


	14. Overkill

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize.

Paige was worried when Piper first grabbed Phoebe as soon as she walked into the room, but the smiles on both of their faces after the little chat they had frightened her. At least now Phoebe was quietly lying next to her. 'If only Piper could leave me alone,' she thought, trying to go to sleep without any luck.

Piper was all over Paige, refusing to let her do a thing by herself. "Here sweetie. Let me plump your pillow so it's nice and soft." Then when Paige went to lie down, Piper was there guiding her to bed and brushing her hair away from her eyes. "Would you like a bedtime story, Paige?" she asked as if she wouldn't take no for an answer. Paige even said no but Piper just chuckled, shook her head like she was amused, and grabbed The Cat In The Hat and Green Eggs and Ham out of the bookcase. She then began reading the children's stories using greatly exaggerated voices while showing Paige all the pictures and explaining a few of them. Paige looked over to see Phoebe looking very amused at Piper's antics, but she wasn't laughing. Paige thought it ridiculous that she was being treated like a kid. She was over twenty for God's sake.

Finally, after Piper had gotten though the books, she looked up to see Paige still awake and starting to look somewhat frustrated. "Oh sweetie," she cooed, happy to see her idea start to work, "c'mon honey you need to sleep. What can I do to help you sleep?"

Paige just gave a look that said 'Piper, you are nuts' before sitting up in bed and reaching for the remote to the TV. Piper saw what Paige was reaching for and got to it first removing it from within Paige's reach. "No, baby girl. It's way past your bedtime and you are very sick. C'mon lie down for me and relax," she said gently pushing Paige back down on the bed, but as soon as Piper removed her hands, Paige tried to sit up again. "No sweetie," Piper gently scolded as she guided Paige back down. "You have to lay down to go to night night." Paige now thought enough was enough so she tried to wiggle free from Piper and get out of bed. "Piper, I don't know what the hell you are doing but let me go. I think I should just go back to my apartment and just hang out there until you chill."

Piper grew stern. "Paige, if you leave this room without one of us, then you are going to be in more trouble than you know what to do with. Now sweetie," she cajoled, back to being overly sweet, "just lie down next to Phoebe for me and close your eyes." Paige was seriously freaked out by Piper's actions when she once again laid her on the bed and then brushed away the hair that had fallen in her face, but Paige behaved. She was too tired not to at this point. Piper was glad to see Paige following her directions. "That's it baby girl. Shhh. Just close your eyes, relax and go to sleep." Piper kissed Paige's forehead a couple of times before leaning back and watching her two younger sisters sleep, seeing as Phoebe had drifted off earlier.

Around four in the morning, Piper couldn't keep her eyes open any longer so she went around to the other side of the bed and gently shook Phoebe awake. "Huh," said Phoebe drowsily when she opened her eyes to find it pitch black outside and Piper standing over her.

"Pheebs, I can't stay awake any longer. Your turn to watch over Paige. Wake us up at about eight for breakfast."

Phoebe just nodded as she climbed out of bed so Piper could climb in next to Paige. She moved to the seat where Piper had been and picked up a book to read while watching Paige. Phoebe was reading the book when Paige started tossing and turning in her sleep and making scared sounds. "Damn it," she muttered to herself not wanting to see her sister in emotional pain again. "Piper, wake up! Paige is having a nightmare again."

Piper bolted upright at those words and looked over at her baby sister to see sweat pouring off her face as she struggled with some invisible demon of her past. Not wanting Paige to hurt herself, she grabbed Paige and pulled her into a tight embrace that Paige struggled against until she finally woke up with a start and realized whose arms she was in. "Wow, honey," whispered Piper as she felt her sister draw in some deep breaths to try and help her ragged breathing.. "That was some dream. Why don't we get you out of these clothes and get you some more medicine to get your fever down?"

Piper didn't want to push Paige yet so she stayed quiet and just rocked and held Paige while Phoebe got a dry nightshirt for Paige along with another dose of medicine. The medicine she put in a sippie cup because Phoebe wasn't sure Paige could handle a normal glass at the moment and didn't want to risk it. When Phoebe got back into the room she saw Paige still in Piper's safe, comforting arms and slowly being rocked.

"Okay Paige," Phoebe said moving slowly into the room, making sure to never leave Paige's line of sight. "Let's get that wet thing off and get you into some dry clothes." Paige let the old nightshirt be taken off of her and the new one put on with no struggle. She felt too worn out to fight a battle she knew she was going to lose. Though when she saw the sippie cub with the medicine in it, she balked even though she was half asleep. "There is no way I'm going to drink out of that. Do I look like a baby to you?"

Piper laughed. "Well you are our baby sister does that count?" She then got more serious as Paige emphatically shook her head no. "Paige, Phoebe decided that you need to take your medicine out of a sippie cup and that is what you are going to do. Don't make me force you to drink it."

"You wouldn't dare," sneered Paige who was taken by surprise when Piper got her in a tighter embrace and held the spout to her lips. She moved her head trying to avoid the cup. "Like I said before. Not happening, I am not a baby." Then the unthinkable happened. Paige had spoken for a second too long and she found the spout of the cup in her mouth leaving her with no option but to drink or choke. "That's it Paigey girl," said Piper soothingly when she saw Paige swallowing the contents grudgingly. "You are doing so good," she praised when the cup was almost empty. As soon as Paige was finished, Piper removed the spout from her mouth and smiled. "See that wasn't too bad was it?"


	15. Runaway part two

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize. I do not own the songs I mentioned or the lyrics to those songs. I just really, really like them.

"Easy for you to say," Paige grumbled as she tried to make her way out of Piper's encircling arms. Piper just held tighter and started rocking Paige to try and get her back to sleep. "Piper, let me go." Paige said harshly. She was very tired and being treated like a baby wasn't helping her mood improve any.

Piper raised her eyebrow at Paige's tone. "You do not use that tone with me, young lady." She said sternly. "And no, you are overtired now and you need to go back to sleep."

"I will. Just let me out of your arms."

"Why? You are fine in my arms, Paige. C'mon just go back to sleep for me sweetie."

"I have to go."

Upon hearing this, Piper grew even more stern. "Paige, what did I tell you about you leaving us? It's not going to happen so quit trying."

Phoebe began to giggle. "I don't think she is planning to leave the house, Piper. Think of the other form of go."

Piper had the good grace to look somewhat embarrassed before standing up, still with Paige in her arms, and walking over to the bathroom. "Okay Paigey girl. Do you need any help?"

"No," growled Paige, extremely upset with her current situation. She'd had been treated like a baby before going to sleep, she'd had another nightmare that her sisters had seen, and then she'd been forced to drink out of a sippie cup. Now she couldn't even go to the bathroom on her own.

"Well then get to it." Piper just stood in the front of Paige but she did have the decency to turn around.

"Um, Piper," asked Paige. "Aren't you going to leave?"

"No. The last time I let you go anywhere by yourself, you ended up at a beach and made yourself sicker. I'm not going anywhere."

Paige decided to finish her business before yelling at Piper. When Piper heard the toilet flush, she turned around to help Paige finish the rest of her routine. Paige let Piper wash her hands for her and carry her back to bed. Then she let loose with a full fledged rant. "Okay, what the fuck is going on? First, you guys bring me here against my will, then you started treating me like a kid. I could handle that but now Piper is going way over the top. She, you, are treating me like a baby."

"Isn't that what I said I was going to do, sweetie? I did say that you are now a baby in our book until we feel you are better." Piper spoke in a cloying sweet tone that scared Paige out more than any of the angry voices of her childhood. She knew how to deal with anger and not let it affect her, but this over the top love was completely new to her. She was afraid both of the reason for the tone and how she wanted to react to it.

"I didn't think that you were going to be all over me. This is cruel and inhumane treatment. Why don't I just orb out of here? I can get some time to myself and you and Phoebe can fix whatever is bothering you, ya know, like go and find a real baby to baby."

Piper decided to ignore the last statement and started to rock Paige in her lap. "Okay, baby girl. Let's go back to sleep. You are really tired. Shh. Just relax and go to sleep."

Paige tensed as soon as the rocking started, she was confused and just wanting everything to go back the way it was, she at her apartment and her sisters at the Manor living semi separate lives. "See. This is what I am talking about. You are all over me and now you are ignoring what I'm saying."

Piper shared a look with Phoebe. They knew that Paige was about to break a little, they just had to find one more button to push. "Okay honey. You are _sooo_ tired aren't you? Yeah I bet you are sweetie. C'mon just relax for me and go to sleep. Piper's got you and you are fine. Just relax and go to sleep. We are right here, nothing bad is going to happen to you." Piper cooed in her ear while still rocking Paige. Being talked to like a toddler, even though Paige had never experienced it, finally broke her the little bit her sisters were waiting for. She began struggling, trying to escape Piper's arms which felt like they were stifling her.

"Let me go. This is ridiculous and insane. Damn it, Piper! I promise I won't leave the house, but I need some space right now. You got to let me go and give me some time to cool off before I..." Paige trailed off, realizing that she was telling her sisters too much.

"Before what Paige?" asked Phoebe while Piper held strong against Paige's movements.

"Just please let me go." Pleaded Paige in a whisper. She didn't want to tell her sisters anything. She wanted out, but out of what she wasn't sure so she settled for Piper's embrace at the moment. Piper and Phoebe glanced at each other, concerned about the desperation they heard in Paige's voice before Piper said, "Okay Paige. I will let you go. But you are not to leave this room."

When Piper saw Paige nod in agreement, she loosened her grip. Paige immediately broke free, stood up, and started pacing around the room like a caged lion. She was wondering about the mind games Piper and Phoebe seemed to be playing with her. They were a little like some her foster father used to play with her but she was uncertain how these would end. 'They are acting majorly weird like I _am_ a kid again. What are they trying to do, send me to the loony bin? And _why_ are they acting this way?' The room started to close in around Paige as too many thoughts circled in her head until one finally broke through to the surface, 'I need to get out of here.' After that last thought, Paige put thought into action, orbing to her apartment. Phoebe and Piper, who had been watching the pacing uneasily, worried about what was bothering their sister, saw what Paige was doing at the last second and tried to stop her, but Paige's orbs dissipated before they even got to the spot from which she left.

"Damn it," yelled Piper. "Where in the world did she go? And why the fuck did she leave?"

Phoebe just stared at the spot where Paige had stood. "We got too close," she whispered almost to herself but Piper heard her.

"So we got close. Is she that afraid of us that she doesn't want us to know about her?"

"I don't know Piper," said Phoebe frustrated by the whole situation. "Maybe we freaked her out too much or maybe we reminded her of her foster father but either way she is gone."

"If she still has that spell, we won't be able to find her again. I doubt she'll use her car and she didn't have her purse with her when she orbed so I can't see her in a rustic inn some place." Piper said thinking out loud.

"So do we wait then?"

"Yeah either for her to come back or for the hospital or Darryl to call."

And so the sisters went downstairs and got comfortable in the living room, waiting for their missing third or news of her to arrive.

Meanwhile at her apartment Paige put some music on in preparation for her going to bed. Now that she was alone all the tension from being with her sisters left her and she was feeling really drained. She slipped one of her mix CDs into her stereo and hit the shuffle button. The first song that came on was 'Cold' by Crossfade. The lyrics seemed to strike a chord within her. She didn't want to leave her sisters but that was the way it worked out.

_I never really wanted you to see_

_The screwed up side of me that I keep_

_Locked up inside of me so deep_

_It always seems to get to me_

_I never really wanted to you to go_

_So many things should have known_

_I guess for me there's no hope_

_I never meant to be so cold_

Worried about the way her thoughts were heading, mainly her conscience was trying to convince her to go back to her sisters, she hit the skip button hoping for a better song to come on. The next song was 'Only Love' from the musical The Scarlet Pimpernel.

_I see you try to turn away_

_I hear the words you want to say_

_I feel how much you need to hide_

_What's happening inside you tonight_

_Come meet my eyes one moment more_

_Our eyes are different than before_

_This night so beautiful and strange_

_This night begins to change who we are_

_Don't turn away it's only love_

_Quietly coming to you_

_Whispering through you_

_Take my hand it's only love_

_Let it come through you slowly_

_Don't be afraid it's only love_

Paige, listening to the song realized that she was like the person the singer was talking about. She was running away from her sisters and their love. Shaking her head, she did not want to think about this before sleeping so she hit the skip button again hoping to find something that wouldn't remind her of anything. She skipped over the next few songs, 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight?' from the Lion King, 'SOS' from the musical Mamma Mia, 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow?' by Carole King, 'You'll Be in My Heart' from Tarzan, and 'All I Know' by Art Garfunkel before finally stopping on 'This is The Place' by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. "Thank God. A song that doesn't remind me of my sisters or anything else." She put the song on repeat before climbing into bed and turning out the light. She really was tired.


	16. A visitor

I ended up writing two different stories from so I ended up posting the nice cliche story versus the story that was getting too graphic for my taste. Thanks for all the great reviews. I really appreciate the feedback.

Disclaimer: I don't own neither Nickelback's song nor Charmed.

Paige awoke in the morning to the sounds of someone messing with her stereo. They changed the song to 'How You Remind Me' by Nickelback. "Who ever the fuck you are, I am in no mood to deal with you so please leave especially if you are one of my sisters. And please put the song I was listening to back on. I happen to like it."

_Never made it as a wise man_

_I couldn't cut it as a poor man stealing_

_Tired of living like a blind man_

_I'm sick of sight without a sense of feeling_

_And this is how you remind me_

_This is how you remind me of what I really am_

_This is how you remind me of what I really am_

The person gave a small smile before replying. "No can do sis. You are driving all of us nuts so it's my turn to the same to you."

"Hold a minute. You guys are the ones who are messing with my head. I mean, I was threatened with diapers. And you call me crazy." Paige then turned to see who she was talking to and to hopefully get them out of her apartment. "Now I'm not sure how you got here. But you had better be ready to leave the same way because I'm …" Paige's jaw dropped as she saw who she was talking to, "Prue."

Her oldest sister gave one of her trademark crooked grins before replying. "In the flesh. Or at least sort of."

"But how? Where? When? Why?"

Prue held up her hand trying to forestall any more questions. It wasn't necessary though as Paige broke into one of her coughing fits from her excitement. Prue immediately rushed over and rubbed her back and spoke soothing words to her until Paige could breathe properly. "To start answering your questions, this is part of why, you need someone to take care of you, and now it is time to go visit the rest of our sisters."

"You are taking me back to them?" Paige now thought that all three of her sisters were psycho. "Thanks but no thanks. I'm doing fine on my own."

Prue raised her eyebrow skeptically. "I don't think that coughing fit you had a minute ago shows that you are fine."

"That's my first one in over twelve hours so I am getting better."

"Yeah and why do you think that is?"

"My natural ability to fight off viruses is finally kicking in beyond my fever."

Prue lightly smacked Paige's arm. "Don't be a smart ass. I don't want to have to deal with three of you. Now you know that your sisters helped you feel better so grab some clothes and let's get going."

"Fine," said Paige not wanting to aggravate her oldest sister. "But if this turns out bad, then I am telling you 'I told you so'." Prue just grabbed Paige's hand once she had some clean clothes and orbed them into the living room startling Piper who was carrying in a tray with coffee on it and scaring Phoebe who was scrying unsuccessfully using a map of California. Phoebe jumped up to a fighting stance while Piper attempted to freeze the intruders.

"Whoa guys. While it is nice to see that you haven't lost your edge, I do think that your friend/foe identifier needs some help. Or do you always attack first and ask questions later?" Prue's voice cut through the tension in the room as two overworked and tired sisters were about to jump on the other two sisters. Piper broke out of her haze first. "Prue? Paige?" She ran over and gave both of them a hug before looking like she was going to strangle Paige.

"Paige, that is the third time in as many days that you have orbed away from us. Now this behavior has got to stop. We are your sisters and when you run out like that it gets us very worried and nervous."

Paige snorted. "Yeah and I bet that the coffee doesn't help the nerves either."

This time Piper slapped her on the arm.

"What _is_ with all the smart asses in our family anyways?" Prue asked the ceiling.

Phoebe finally came forward, still somewhat in shock at seeing her dead sister. "Prue, what are you doing here?"

"Can me and Paige sit down first before I start answering questions? Besides that coffee smells really good and someone," she said indicating Paige, "needs their medicine."

"Not in a sippie cup," spoke Paige when she heard what Prue had said.

Prue rolled her eyes as Piper went and got another cup for coffee and the medicine for Paige. She sat down on the couch next to Paige and waited for the eventual explosion to occur when Piper came back in the room with a coffee cup and a purple sippie cup.

"Okay. I said no sippie cup." Said Paige trying to remain calm but this small thing was driving her insane. All she wanted was a normal cup, was that too much to ask for? Piper handed the sippie cup to Prue. "Your turn. Both Phoebe and I have already done it." Paige started to get off the couch, but Prue was too fast for her and before she knew it, she was being cradled in Prue's lap with the spout already in her mouth. Phoebe's mouth dropped open. "Damn are you good. It took us forever to do that with her."

Prue just chuckled. "Well, I've had a lot of practice with a certain other sibling." She said staring at Phoebe.

"Oh right. Hey I never was that bad."

Paige finally finished all of her medicine. "I can't believe that just happened." She grumbled.

"Don't worry," said Prue. "It's going to be happening more frequently until this bug of yours disappears."

"Does that mean you are staying until Paige is all better?" asked Phoebe.

"At least. We'll have to see how it goes after that." Said Prue somewhat vaguely as she started rocking Paige in her arms, trying to get her to relax. Paige noticed the motion and decided that now would be a good time to attempt a jailbreak before Prue got all lovey-dovey on her. She tried orbing back to her apartment but was surprised when she didn't go anywhere. Prue saw her facial expression and decided to explain for everyone's benefit. "I have an anti orbing charm that effects everyone around me for one hundred feet. It only allows me to orb."

"Nice," said Phoebe appreciatively. "That should keep you in the house Paige."

"So Piper," said Prue wanting Paige to go to sleep so she could talk with to her sisters about what they had to do in the next few days. "Do you have any UDSP available?" she said using her eyes to point towards Paige still in her arms. Piper looked confused for a moment but then the light clicked on. "No I don't have any ready. Paige I'm going to go and get you a cup of water that I want you to drink all of. I really think that you are getting dehydrated." When Piper returned, she handed the sippie cup to Prue with a wink.

"Now Paige," asked Prue in a sugary sweet voice, "are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?"


	17. Sister chat

Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed or anything else that you recognize.

Paige pursed her lips and shook her head as she glared at the offending sippie cup.

"I guess you give me no choice then," said Prue with a tone of extreme disappointment, but she knew inside that this was just the Halliwell stubbornness in Paige. She handed Piper the cup back and whispered something in her ear which Paige couldn't hear. Piper made some noise in the kitchen before returning with a bottle filled with what appeared to be lukewarm water in her hand. She handed it to Prue before quickly stepping out of striking range in case Paige decided to retaliate physically. Paige's blood was now boiling as she looked at the bottle with a mix of fear, hate and contempt. "That had better be for you Prue," she snarled while trying to escape Prue's grasp. Prue held Paige securely and brought the nipple to Paige's mouth.

"C'mon baby girl." Prue said with her sugary sweet voice. "You got to drink some water or you are going to feel worse than you already are." Paige mulishly shook her head no and refused to give entrance to the nipple. She was going to prove once and for all that she wasn't a baby. Prue gave a small sigh as she tried again this time with reason. "Please Paige. I bet that you would like to get the taste of that medicine out of your mouth plus I bet your throat is hurting from all the coughing. C'mon this will help. I promise." Paige still refused to open her mouth. Prue grew stern with her. "Paige you are trying my patience. Please open your mouth or I _will_ take you to the hospital and they will start an IV to give you fluids. Now which is worse, bottle or hospital?"

Paige evidently decided that the bottle was the lesser of two evils as she opened her mouth the smallest bit to allow the bottle entrance. Prue saw her opening and took it. As Paige grudgingly sucked down the contents of the bottle, Prue gently rocked her and ran her fingers through her hair. By the time the bottle was finished, Paige was fast asleep in Prue's arms. "Wow," said Phoebe as Prue laid Paige down on the couch before taking her sisters into the kitchen. "How did you do that?"

Prue smiled. "That was some of Paige being tired, some of my big sister making little sister go to sleep techniques, and a good portion of UDSP."

"What is UDSP?"

Piper answered this question. "It's something Prue and I worked on before she died. UDSP stands for Undetectable Dreamless Sleeping Potion. It is basically a way to make someone fall asleep without them knowing about it. You just have to put it into their drink or sprinkle it on their food and they are out within minutes. It lasts about four hours but the person usually falls into a natural sleep after it wears off and they never notice a thing."

While Piper was saying this, Phoebe was recalling when she would have nightmares after they became witches and her sisters would give her a glass of water and she'd fall asleep a few minutes later. Seeing Phoebe put the pieces together, Prue was quick to jump in. "Yes, Phoebe. We did use it on you a few times but it was only when we were positive that you wouldn't sleep for the rest of the night unless we did something. You needed your sleep between college, volunteering, the club, and demon-fighting."

"You guys _drugged_ me?"

"We only used UDSP once or twice I promise." Said Prue and Phoebe relaxed knowing Prue always kept her promises. Prue and Piper exchanged a look that conveyed their relief that Phoebe hadn't questioned them further to find out that they had made more than one type of sleeping potion. The UDSP they had indeed only used twice on her but there were others they had used.

Phoebe broke off her thoughts about the potion to look intently at Prue. "So sis. Not that I'm not glad to see you or anything but why are you here?"

Prue took a sip of her coffee, relieved to find that it was leaded, before answering. "I've been watching the situation from 'Up There' and thought that you might like some big sister help seeing as Paige has more than her share of the Halliwell women stubbornness." Prue took another sip of coffee before continuing, "I also know that Paige has to get better and the only way for her to do so is to be taken care of by us."

"When you say taken care of, what do you mean?" asked Piper.

"Basically what you've been doing. Shoving food, water, and medicine down her throat while making sure that she rests and doesn't overdo it. The only thing that was causing you trouble, was the fact that she could orb and you couldn't. With me here she no longer has that option so she will have to put up with us babying her."

Phoebe spoke up, "Is there anything we have to change with what we've been doing?"

"No I don't think so except that you guys do realize that this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better."

"Yeah I think we realize that but Paige has got to tell us stuff that she's hiding right now otherwise the Power of Three won't survive because of hidden secrets. I mean we don't know anything about her past and then Phoebe gets a premonition and sees Paige getting abused as a kid. Kind of a shock. The only parents she has ever talked about are the Matthews and even then it's only a sentence or two."

"The virus she has will take about another week to run it's course which means that we," Prue said indicating everyone in the room, "have that long to get her to open up. I think that what you guys are doing, the babying, is a great way to do that. Not only does it show that we love her and will take care of her but it should get her to relax whenever you guys have to do it in the future."

Phoebe got a sad look in her eyes as she realized what Prue was saying. "So you're only here for a week?"

"I have a guarantee of two weeks minimum to make sure that everything gets worked out." Phoebe and Piper's eyes brightened at the thought of two weeks with their oldest sister and their baby sister. Prue checked the clock before saying, "Someone needs to run out and buy diapers before Paige wakes up if we are planning on following through on Piper's threat."

Piper's jaw dropped. "You know about that?"

"Told ya that I was watching." Said Prue amused.

Piper looked at her watch to cover her embarrassment. "Babies R' Us should be open so why don't I go and run over there to grab some stuff?"

"Sounds good," said Phoebe. "I'll come along. I bet they've got some great kids' books." She went and gave Prue a big hug. "I really missed you sis and it's great to have you back."

"I'll see you guys in two hours or so," said Prue as Piper and Phoebe went out the back door and acknowledged the statement with a wave of their hands. Prue stood up, coffee cup in hand, and went back to where Paige was sleeping. She decided to lie down next to her and also get some rest because as soon as Paige woke up to find out what had happened while she was asleep all hell was sure to break loose.

Prue was awoken two and a half hours later by the sound of a camera flash. "Crap," she heard Phoebe say. "I thought I had turned the stupid flash off. Oh well. Hi sleepyhead. You two look really cute together and wait until you see what we bought Paige."

Prue carefully extricated herself from Paige and followed Phoebe into the kitchen where there were several bags blaring Babies R' Us. "Do I want to know what you bought I think is the better question."


End file.
